The Secret of Inis Oiche
by gingerchangeling
Summary: Emma never had a family, and every year on her birthday she makes the same wish. That Henry will always have people who love him. So when a letter arrives, addressed to her with two plane tickets to Ireland, she doesn't know what to do. Especially since the letter is addressed to "Our Darling Daughter."
1. Chapter 1

Happy Birthday Mom

 _Thud._ The satisfying sound of the apartment door slamming shut behind her triggered the sudden release of the tension that always settled on her shoulders when she was hunting her marks. It also triggered-

"MOM! MOM! DID YOU GET HIM? DID YOU GET HIM? OF COURSE YOU DID! HOW'D YOU DO IT? WHAT WAS THE LOOK ON HIS FACE? DID HE-"

"Easy kid," Emma couldn't help the beaming smile that split her face as she called out to her son, who was making his appearance. He barrelled around the corner from the kitchen in his socks, slamming into the opposite wall in his haste, before he slid to an ungainly stop before her, bouncing on his toes, anxious as ever to hear her battle stories.

His eyes sparked in the hallway light. Just to test his patience, she gave him a small smirk before focusing on her ridiculous shoes, slipping the heel strap off and savoring the sudden loss in height as her bare foot landed flat on the cool hardwood flooring, easing the cramp that had built in the arch of her foot. She proceeded to take off the other, watching as Henry's bouncing increased in speed, and when he suddenly stopped, she smiled.

"MOooooOOOOOooooOOm," he whined and she let out a laugh as she bent over to pick her shoes up by the straps.

"Ok ok, Yes I got him. He tried to run, flipped the table over and spilled a delicious glass of Cab on my dress." She gestured to the dark stain that now marred her work dress.

Henry let out a gasp and Emma was reminded of yet another thing she loved about her son. He was a perfect listener, emotionally invested in the story to the very end and ready to gasp and cheer or ask questions in all the right places. She couldn't help herself and reached out to smooth down his hair before dropping her hand to his shoulder and leading him back into the kitchen, while he stared up at her, riveted to her every word..

"Yeah but I had already planned for that and I-" she cut off sharply when she caught sight of the kitchen counter. On it sat a single cupcake, a small glittering blue star candle jutting up from its center and her heart clenched in her chest.

At her pause, Henry broke out into a quiet smile, seeming to savor the myriad of emotions that she could feel crossing her face.

"Happy Birthday Mom."

She looked down at him, her boy, with his sweet smile and knowing eyes, and she didn't have words for how much she loved her son. So she pulled him to her, and he went willingly, arms wrapping around her waist as she held him fiercely, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, trying to tell him all the things she didn't have words for.

And as he always had, he seemed to understand the things she couldn't say, because he squeezed her more tightly, small fingers digging into her back as he mumbled against her dress, "I love you too Mom."

She closed her eyes at his words, sucking in a breath, feeling the same sense of deep satisfaction settle in her bones she always did when he said those words to her. Because he wasn't simply using the words. She knew he meant it each and every time they came out of his mouth, and that was all she had ever wanted her whole life was to have someone say the words and mean it. And her son, her beautiful boy, always did.

They remained like that for a long moment, before Henry seemed to decide that the moment was over and to pull away. She pressed one more kiss to the crown of his head, then released him, stepping back.

"So what happened after he tried to run?" His eyes had regained their sparkle, and she gave a soft laugh as they both resumed their walk to the kitchen counter.

"Yeah he tried to run kid, but I knew he would so I had his car booted. And then he tried to go on about paying me to let him go."

"NO!"

"Yeah. And then her tried to tell me I didn't know anything about loving a family, and the thought that someone could think I didn't love you made me really mad. So I smashed his face into the steering wheel."

"YEAH GO MOM WHOO!" Henry pumped his fist in the air and gave his customary victory jig, an adorable shoulder and shuffle deal that he had started when he was still a toddler, and since he always managed to get her to laugh when he did it, it seemed to have just stuck.

She let out another laugh as she tossed her shoes to the floor by the couch and turned to regard the cupcake before her and Henry's beaming face.

"Alright, shall we dig into this beautiful feast we have before us?" she teased him, drawing an eye roll reminiscent of one of her own.

"Just make sure you don't waste your wish."

"Of course I wouldn't," she chuckled before she bent over the counter, crossing her arms and resting her chin on them as she contemplated the tiny dancing flame.

It had been a tradition since she had given birth to him. Every year on her birthday, she would blow out a single candle, and make a wish. Always the same wish.

She closed her eyes and blew out the candle.

 _May Henry always have what I never did._

Then a knock sounded.


	2. Chapter 2

A Letter to...

She opened her eyes in surprise, shooting upright at the sound, casting a glance at Henry, who looked equally as puzzled. With raised eyebrow, she walked back out of the kitchen and down the hall, kicking her shoes against the wall as she go to the door.

She looked through the peephole, and was shocked to see a UPS man standing outside with an expression of nervous anticipation. She heard shuffling and turned to see Henry pop his head around the corner and she shot him a look of utter confusion, before she unchained and unbolted the door.

As it pulled open, she watched the posture of the delivery guy straighten up, though he couldn't conceal the sheen of sweat on his face.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Uh, ar-are you Emma Swan?" he stuttered, eyes flicking down to her dress for half a moment before quickly shooting back up to her face as a red flush suffused his cheeks, like he hadn't meant to look down.

"I, uh, I have a package for you," he held out a thin envelope as he spoke, as if trying to provide proof of the validity of his explanation.

Emma nodded, "They have you guys out on delivery at- what time is it?"

She was surprised then when his face turned even more red and he looked down before he mumbled something unintelligible to the carpet.

She took in his posture, hunched over while he kicked slightly at the carpet. He was probably only twenty or twenty-one, so she decided to bite her tongue against the sarcastic remark that was just begging to pop out.

Instead, she simply said lightly, "Sorry, I missed that."

His head snapped up as if he didn't realize he had mumbled. He straightened up again, as if summoning his courage to confess some grievous sin. He cleared his throat.

"I - ah I was supposed to have delivered this this afternoon, but it slipped between the seats. And I would have brought it tomorrow but we got this in a month a go with directions to specifically deliver it to this address today. So I had to make sure you got it."

Emma blinked in surprise and she heard Henry make a noise of interest from his eavesdropping spot. "Oh, ok."

He seemed shocked that she wasn't yelling at him, and instantly relaxed. "So yeah, if you could just sign for it here," dropping his hand to pull his digital skew reader, quickly scanning the barcode on the shipping envelope, then offering the bottom to her to sign.

She reached forward and signed for it, offering him a tight lipped smile, which he returned with a relieved nod of his head. He then offered up the envelope again.

Emma took it cautiously, and once it was free of his hand, the delivery guy all but bolted back down the corridor, with a "Have a nice evening!" tossed over his shoulder as he went. The movement was so similar to what Henry sometimes did that she couldn't help the little smile that worked its way onto her lips as she shook her head, turning back into her apartment.

She looked to Henry a she closed the door, watching as the rest of his body followed his mop of hair around the corner before he trotted up to her.

"So what is it?" he asked.

"Dunno kid," she shrugged. "Let's find out?"

Henry beamed as he nodded, excitement overtaking his puzzlement. Emma couldn't help the answering smile a she looked back down at the envelope. At which point the smile died on her face when she saw who it was addressed to.

She vaguely heard Henry calling her, "Mom, mom?" but she couldn't seem to process anything beyond what was written on the envelope. "MOM!"

She started out of her haze to look up at the worried face of her son.

"Are you ok Mom? What's wrong? What is it?"

And suddenly she was overwhelmed. "I need a minute." Then she all but sprinted back through the apartment to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her, closing her eyes and trying to will away the words on the envelope in her hand. But when she opened her eyes and looked down at the international postage, the return address in Ireland, she couldn't deny what was there.

 **To: Emma Swan, Our Daughter**


	3. Chapter 3

The Choice

Three months. Three months since that damned letter had arrived. And she still hadn't made up her mind.

She had tried to put it out of her mind, to forget the words that were irreversibly seared into her memory. But everywhere she looked, something triggered a thought that eventually led back to it- she had parents.

And they wanted to see her.

And she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted that.

The thought alone made her feel guilty and ungrateful for this seeming second chance. But then she would remember that they were the ones who gave her up and damned her to a life without a home and then she'd get angry for feeling guilty. Which she would then feel guilty about.

When she had looked down at the letter in her hand that night, a whole host of warring emotions welled up in her, and when Henry had asked, "Hey Mom, so what is it?" she had become overwhelmed.

"Give me a second, kid." And then she had fled to the bathroom, clicking the door shut behind her, trying to stave off what felt like the beginnings of a panic attack. Once she had a barrier between herself and the world, she could no longer suppress the shaking.

Her knees started to give out and she had to brace herself against the sink and door, a wave of vertigo making her eyes haze over and her blood roar for a few moments. She realized that her whole body was being wracked with tremors and her blood roaring.

Her _parents. Her_ parents _._

She was on the brink of sliding into a full blown panic attack when there was a soft and tentative tap on the door, "Mom?"

And just like that, her mind pulled itself into focus, picking up Henry's shaky breath through the wood and the nervous tapping from where he had evidently left his hand on the door. Her son needed her, and nothing _nothing_ would come before him.

 _ **She was screaming. She wasn't even sure why anymore she was just begging to make the pain stop. But then, with one last crest, it was, and suddenly it was not her cries of agony that filled the room but the cries of a squalling baby taking its first healthy breath. And the world faded away as a figure in white bore her babe to her.**_

" _ **Perfectly healthy. Eight pounds, nine ounces, all ten fingers and toes. Congratulations, Ms. Swan. You have a perfect baby boy."**_

 _ **And then he was in her arms, face furrowed in consternation at the discomfort of being in the world for the first time. And as she gazed down at her child, she made an oath, a promise to any deity left, that her son would be her everything. She would give him everything. And she would make sure he stayed just as he was- perfect.**_

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she straightened and opened the door, looking on the concerned face of her son.

"Mom?"

She gave a small smile, reaching out to cup his face, smoothing out the furrow between his brows that echoed hers a little too closely. "I'm alright kid. Just got some unexpected news."

"Is it bad?"

She hesitated, "I'm not sure."

And so now she was here, staring down at the letter in one hand and a file in the other, and tried not to see the twists of fate or poetic irony in the situation she now found herself in. Henry was in the other room, hollering loudly at the TV his usual litany of accusations.

"That's cheating! The game can't do that! You can't do that! Mom, the game is cheating!"

And while he endeavored to become a level thirty six wizard, she had to make a choice. Because today, her handler, Cleo, had given her an assignment that could change everything.

 _ **She had been called into her boss's office, looking forward to getting a new assignment, but as soon as she stepped through the door, the expression on the other woman's face alerted her that this was not going to be a run of the mill assignment.**_

" _ **Swan, good. Close the door and take a seat."**_

" _ **Yeah, sure boss," she murmured as she pushed the door closed with a soft click then treading over to one of the two plush leather seats in front of Cleo's desk. Once she was settled, she broke the silence, "So what's up boss?"**_

 _ **Cleo looked at her, before sighing, "You know that we mostly deal with bail skippers and the like, right? Well occasionally, we also delve into more…. personal… issues. Finding people, and even more rarely, finding things."**_

 _ **She nodded to confirm that she was following, despite the confusion she felt.**_

" _ **Well, I have an assignment unlike anything you've dealt with before. Call it a personal favor for an old friend. I need someone to track down and locate a rather unusual item for me."**_

" _ **Ok," she said slowly, "so what's the item?"**_

 _ **Cleo leaned back before she answered, "It's not only the item that is unique. It's also where you'll need to be looking." She paused again before delivering words that had the blood draining from her face. "The assignment is in Ireland. On an island call Inis Oiche."**_

Even after she had reviewed all the details and double checked the absolutely obscene amount of zeros the bounty was listed for, she was still hesitating. There was no way that her perfect little bubble of paradise would remain if she went. She would never be able to regain the hard earned peace she had made with her lot and her life, content to live with the only person who mattered to her.

But she had promised, from his first breath, that she would give Henry _everything_. And now she could give him the one gift she never thought she'd be able to- a family. She could give him someone to talk about on grandparents day at school, instead of having him coming home in tears to demand why she was hiding them and having to explain to her son, at the tender age of just six years old, that she could not hide what she did not have.

It was on that day, as he stood there with snot running down his nose and the errant thought of being as ugly a crier as his mom running through her mind, that she made another promise to him that she would never break. She would never lie to him.

She had had her trust shattered too many times, and knew just how lies poisoned even the easiest of relationships.

 _ **How what was an easy relationship with Walsh had crumbled to dust as she caught him in lie after lie until she caught him in another woman's bed. Henry had wrapped her in his favorite blanket and pushed his favorite stuffed animal, a seal they had got at the aquarium years before, and then hurried as fast as his little legs could carry him to bring her a mug full of milk and hot chocolate powder sitting on top.**_

 _ **And it was the sight of her son, staring at her with eyes she had once cursed and wished to forget, his slightly milky hands from trying to pour from the jug resting on her cheek, and a cherubic smile on his face, with unmixed hot chocolate and his favorite toy, that she realized she didn't need anything else. Just this.**_

Henry deserved everything, regardless of whether or not she was ready for it. That was what being a parent was after all. Providing for the life that you chose to create because once the choice was made, it was your obligation. But more than that, it should be given because you _want_ them to have better, be better, live better than you.

And with that,she made up her mind, standing up and making her way out into the living room to where her son was standing up and and bobbing left and right a he tried to get his character to dodge with his controller. The sight made her smile, and she held onto that glow as she spoke up.

"Hey kid, pause that."

"Noooo hold on mom can it wait like two minutes? I'm almost about to defeat dark wizard Zicore!"

"Henry Michael, turn off the game."

The screen went silent instantly as he turned toward her with wide eyes. She _never_ used his full name. But when he saw that she didn't seem to be mad, he relaxed. She gave another sigh as she walked up and plopped down on the couch, patting the cushion next to her.

"Come here, kid. We need to have a talk."

His gulp was audible as he slowly lowered himself down, his back rigid and his posture perfect, in full _listening mode_. But she needed him for this, needed to feel the heartbeat she helped create and the breathing she helped protect and the fidgeting she had most definitely passed on. So she spread her arms, and Henry's posture immediately melted and he cuddled up to her side, like he had when he was young. She breathed him in for a moment, holding him to her, before she took the jump.

"Henry, you know I don't have any parents, that I grew up without a family." He nodded against her shirt. She ran a hand through his hair. "And you know that I have to travel for work a lot right?" He nodded again. "Well, some things have come up. I got a special job from Aunt Cleo that she needs me to do for her, and it's very far away."

At her words, Henry gave a slight whine and tightened his hold on her, "I hate it when you are gone."

Her whole body warmed and her muscles relaxed at his words. She pressed another kiss to his hair. "Yeah well about that. See, do you remember the letter I got a few months ago, on my birthday?"

Now he pulled back from her to look her in the face. Despite having his father's eye color and shape, his _eyes_ were hers through and through. They traced over her expression and quickly darted to her hand before coming back up to her face. She could see every razor sharp thought clearly, his eyes picking up every detail with unerring perception for a child his age. He _saw_ the same way she did.

And now she looked steadily into those eyes. "Well the letter is an invitation to the same place that my case is going to be, and you were included in the invitation."

His brow furrowed, and she could see him working out the answer even as he asked her the question, "Who invited us Mom?"

She offered him the letter, and as he took it, she managed to get out the words, "My parents."


	4. Chapter 4

Our Dearest Emma

 _ **Our Dearest Emma,**_

 _ **We can't believe that we finally found you. After all these years, we finally managed to track you down. But, our darling girl, you probably want to know how. And while this should probably wait to be said in person, you deserve to know.**_

 _ **Our names are Mary-Margaret and David. We met and fell in love our freshman year of high school. We kept our relationship secret, because my step-mother, Regina, did not approve of David. See, his mother, Ruth, moved to the states from Ireland after his father died, and Regina did not approve of a single mother raising a child. The fact that she was a "foreigner" just amplified the issue.**_

 _ **I found out I was pregnant right after graduation, and as a requirement to get into college, I had to take a physical exam. I was not yet eighteen at the time, and so my step-mother managed to get her hands on my medical records and found out. Not that I would have been able to hide it for long. At first she tried to get me to terminate the pregnancy early, but when Ruth found out from David, she marched right up to my step-mother and said words to her I still don't know the meaning of. Needless to say, Regina yielded to Ruth's objections and I carried to term. But in the months leading up to your birth, she managed to plant enough doubts into both our heads that when they asked if we wanted to keep you, we decided to let you go, so you would have your best chance.**_

 _ **We regretted that decision as soon as we made it, but with both of us being so young, Regina stepped in yet again to handle the adoption, and without telling us, ensured that it was closed, so we couldn't try to get you back.**_

 _ **We tried desperately that first year, but we were both in college and working and it became less of a desperate act and more of a looming shadow that haunted our quiet moments. David proposed the day after graduation, and I accepted. We had a courthouse wedding three days later, much to Regina's consternation. We went to the same graduate school, David for Criminal justice and myself for Child Psychology and Teaching.**_

 _ **And when we moved back home, me teaching and David working in the Sheriff's department, life just seemed to slide by and before we knew it, fifteen years had passed since your birth. We still set out a single cupcake on your birthday, trying to celebrate with you somewhere out in the world, in any way we could. But we gave you up as lost to us forever.**_

 _ **Three years later, Ruth became extremely ill, and once she recovered enough to travel, begged us to take her back home. And so we did, back to a little island of the western coast, where her home was still vacant, the few townspeople somehow knowing that one day it would be needed again. We tried to convince her to stay on the mainland, with easy access to medical care, but she was absolute in her choice to go back. She seemed to recover, and for a year, we were happy. David managed to make friends with the Gaurdi on the island, just one young man who would be about your age. David took to him like a son. I managed to get myself employed as both a teacher and school administrator, although there are only about thirty children on the island. We were even discussing moving back to the States.**_

 _ **But one night, a horrible storm came up that lasted for days. And the bitter winds, snow, and violent seas made it impossible to resupply in food, medicine, or fuel for the fires. Ruth got pneumonia. The next two and a half years were a downward slide as she would recover slightly and then slide down into even an even worse situation. By the time Ruth died, we could not afford to move back, and nine months later, we found out I was pregnant with Leo. Leo Patrick. We couldn't name him Ruth, but her zodiac sign was Leo, which she held with as much importance as her warnings of not stepping into faerie circles or trying to kick the sea.**_

 _ **Shortly after his birth, Regina reached out to us. It turns out that she had become mayor of our old town, and while in office, met the man she married and was in the process of adopting his child, a sweet boy named Roland. Because of the proceedings, she realized what her actions had done to us all those years ago, and with her offer of help we spent the last seven and a half years searching for you. Until she finally had a run in with an old acquaintance who knew of you, and from there, Regina was able to pull some strings and find out where you lived.**_

 _ **Then we spent the next five months divided over whether or not we should even try to get in contact with you. But with Regina's, and the island's support, we decided. So we sent out this letter with explicit instructions to be delivered on your birthday.**_

 _ **So now you know the whole story. We desperately want to meet you. As our birthday gift to you, we arranged for you to travel to come meet us. You'll have to wait a few months, because no one will ferry you across the straits until after the last of the winter storms have passed. We hope we weren't too presumptuous, but we arranged for travel for two. We would love to meet the man in your life.**_

 _ **We desperately hope to hear from you, and if you do decide to come, email nemo .ie to let him know you are coming, so he can prepare.**_

 _ **We have loved you since the day you were born,**_

 _ **Mom and Dad**_


	5. Chapter 5

She sat and watched as Henry read the letter, trying to analyze his face for reactions. But very much his mother's son, he kept his face impassive as he read through the explanation of why he didn't have a family.

Finally, she watched him sit back and sigh, closing his eyes as he tilted his head back to lean on the back of the couch cushions. She waited until he took a deep breath and opened his eyes, sitting up to look at her.

"So…" he said, offering her the letter back.

She took it, "So."

Henry waited a moment longer, eyeing her carefully. Then he asked, "Should I say what I think or what you want to hear?"

Emma gave a quiet scoff, "I honestly don't know what I want to hear, so let's have it."

Henry nodded, "Well then. I think that we should go." Emma tensed even as she sighed in resignation. She had sort of already accepted that Henry would want to meet his family, now that he had one. But he wasn't finished.

"I want to go, but not for the reason you think." Emma raised an eyebrow, intrigued, as she waited for her son to continue. "I do want to meet these people, but I think that you owe it to yourself to see this through. I know you Mom, you are probably all conflicted, wanting to know them but still bitter about what happened. You need to talk to them."

Emma winced, even as she admired the perceptiveness of her son. "Yeah, I kinda thought that was what you were going to say."

Henry gave her a little smirk before his eyes shifted to the other item in her hands - the case folder from Cleo.

"So what case did Aunt Cleo give you?"

Emma appreciated his change in topic. "It's not like one she's given me before. Instead of finding a person, I'm trying to find a thing."

Henry raised an eyebrow in a move so reminiscent of her own skeptical expression that she had to bite back a smile. "Cleo said that she'd been in touch with an old friend of hers who was trying to track down a valuable family heirloom. She said that the guy had managed to track it to a potential shipwreck off the same island."

"Why doesn't he just go get it?"

"I asked the same," she nodded, "and Cleo said that the man couldn't physically travel anymore. He has some disease of the spine or something, I honestly don't remember too many of the details. I was not really focusing at that point in the conversation." She gave a quiet scoff at herself.

But Henry smiled, "So because he can't go, we are instead?"

"Yep." She popped her P.

Henry's grin was stretched across his face and his eyes sparkled with the advent of this newest exciting adventure. "When do we leave?"

He jumped up before she had a chance to answer him and was mumbling items to pack under his breath. She caught his arm with a laugh.

"Easy kid, it will be a while yet. My m- This Mary Margaret person said that the plane tickets had been purchased for after the winter storms had cleared from the island."

"And when is that?" he whined.

She smiled even more broadly, "Seems like the winter storms clear up just in time for summer."

Henry's pout sank in even further, "So I don't get to miss school?"

Emma shook her head. "The flight is actually the day after your last day of classes."

Henry gave one last bereaved sigh before perking back up, "Oh my god we are going to Ireland, this is gonna be so awesome! We're totally staying the whole summer, right Mom? Oh this is soooo cooooool." He dashed off to his room.

Emma sighed. She certainly hoped that they wouldn't stay the summer.

Why she had ever thought this was going to be a good idea was completely beyond her. She should have known better. And now here she was, waiting for a bus she was sure was no longer running, in a foreign country, with a sick child, missing luggage, and no patience left, at twelve forty _AM._ But given the events that had led to her and Henry to being trapped at a small airport in _Shannon, Ireland_ , she doesn't know why she really expected anything other than the absolute worst.

 _It had all started when Emma had reached out to the Nemo person named in the letter, and he emailed back early the next morning that he was going to be out trawling and wouldn't be available. He apologized sincerely and said that he would try to find another fishing boat that might be in port for them to take across to the island. It wasn't until the day before they left that he finally got back to her and said that he'd managed to secure passage for her on a vessel called_ The Snow White _. He'd given a date and time that the craft would meet them at the Doolin docks._

 _It was as they were taking a cab to the airport that Emma realized that the date was off. It was a day later than when they were supposed to be arriving. So now they had to find accommodations for the extra night._

 _Then they had gone through TSA, which moved about as quickly as an egg down a pane of glass and pushing them precariously close to their boarding time. And of course her bag had gotten flagged and pulled off to the side, and the sweating, neckbearded man meticulously went through each pair of underwear and the few bras she had packed in her carry-on._

 _She tapped her foot in impatience as Henry fiddled with his phone while the leering man daintily put everything back in, saying as he zipped up the bag, "I wish I knew where you were going honey cheeks. I'd love to see what those beauties look like when they are_ on _you."_

 _Emma felt the heat in her cheeks rise, not from embarrassment, but from fury. Her_ son _was right there. So she marched up to snatch her bag back and as she did, she hissed, "Sorry pervert, but I guess you'll have to find something else to jack off to in your parent's basement."_

 _Without another word, she spun around and marched off, catching Henry's collar in her free hand._

 _Then she'd heard the radio speaker call out for "SWAN Party, please make you way to the gate. This is final call. SWAN party, please come to the gate. Final call."_

 _And so she and Henry had to sprint down the terminal, barely making it as the stewardess was closing the door. With a healthy serving of side eye, the woman opened the door and let them hurry down the gangway and onto the plane. And naturally, their seats were practically at the back of the plane. So they had to awkwardly bump their way down the aisle, letting the whole plane take in the two assholes that had delayed them. Emma had never quite understood the words "Walk of Shame" until that moment._

 _When they finally made it to their seats, they hurried to put up their carry-ons and settle in. Henry had gotten over the adrenaline rush and was now looking forward to his first long distance flight. He had never been on more than a puddle jumper._

 _But of course, because fate had it out for her, an hour and a half into the five hour flight, Henry turned slightly green and reached for the barf bag with a shaky hand._

" _You ok?" she whispered_

 _He gave an unconvincing nod before he suddenly shook his head with urgency. Emma immediately stood and let him past, and he sprinted down the aisle to the bathroom. By the time Emma had caught up with him, he was dry heaving._

 _Apparently Henry got altitude sickness._

 _For the rest of the flight, the sympathetic stewardesses let them linger in the back prep area, allowing for Henry to stand and walk around. They offered him a bit of pita bread from one of their little pantries and then followed it with a ginger ale to help settle his stomach. By hour four, Henry's eyes were beginning to droop and they slowly made their way back to their seats._

 _Emma whispered her gratitude to the stewardess, and the woman gave her a surprisingly kind smile._

 _The rest of the flight passed without much more commotion, and they landed for their layover in Heathrow._

 _Having never had to go through Customs before, the two awkwardly made their way to the gentleman stamping the passports, and two judicial thuds later, they were in England._

 _Henry was still feeling the effects of the flight, the descent having stirred up his nausea again, and they wearily made their way towards their gate._

 _They still had a little over two hours before their connecting flight was set to open the gates. Emma suggested one of the little Italian places in the terminal, thinking that pasta might be a good idea. But he barely managed to choke down half the dish, and just sipped at his water while Emma finished off his leftovers and pounded down coffee. Except of course they didn't have_ actual coffee _. No, apparently drip wasn't a thing and the closest she could get to a plain cup was an espresso shot with water. She snorted at how apt the name was._

 _Americano indeed._

 _Once they had finished, they both made their way towards the gate, and Emma had the brilliant idea of trying to power nap. So she and Henry claimed a bit of floor and hunkered down. Emma set her alarm for the time the gate opened, and they were both out almost instantly._

 _When her alarm when off, she quickly gathered a still groggy Henry and headed towards the gate. The very very empty gate. She left Henry standing where he was as she hurried to the little booth._

" _Wait, is this the gate for the flight to Shannon?"_

 _The man looked up, "Yes ma'am. It just closed."_

 _Emma froze. That couldn't be right. But then, with her stomach twisting, she pulled out her ticket. Right there, next to the time-_ Gate Closes.

 _Emma's eyes fluttered shut, and apparently the man could sense that she was on the brink of losing it, because he cleared his throat to get her to open his eyes._

" _There is another flight today that you should probably be able to get your tickets switched to."_

" _Really?"_

" _Yeah, the ticket stand is right over there," and he gestured towards a long wall with bank teller-like openings in it._

" _Ah thank you so much," she sighed._

 _He just gave a smile and nod before he turned back to his computer. Emma returned to Henry, who looked for all the world like he was sleeping standing up, and she herded him over to the teller window. The woman behind the glass gave her a genuine smile as she asked, "What can I help you with ma'am?"_

" _Um.. ahem.. We missed our connecting flight to Shannon, so we were hoping we could switch our tickets to the next flight."_

" _Of course you can dear. Let me just see those tickets of yours."_

 _Emma gladly offered them up and waited. Several minutes of clacking later, she heard a printer whirl to life and the next moment, two tickets were slid back under the window._

" _There you are, two tickets for the 10:30 flight to Shannon! You dears have a good one!"_

 _Emma numbly stared down at the tickets in her hand. Of course the next flight was in six hours._

 _So Emma sighed and gently guided Henry back to where they'd been sleeping, settled back down, and made sure to set her alarm an hour and a half earlier than the time on the ticket. Just to be sure._

 _They boarded the plane a few hours later with little trouble and very much on time. They asked if she wouldn't mind checking both of their carry-ons because the small plane was going to be full. So Emma allowed it, and she and Henry settled in for the short hour and a half flight to Shannon airport._

 _Henry, however, didn't seem to have gotten over his earlier bought of queasiness and started to get a little green around the gills during take off. He settled for a bit, but then they descended and he whimpered in discomfort. Emma winced as she gently pushed the bangs back from his forehead, comforting him as they waited for their plane to make it to the gate._

 _They debarked the plane and made their way down to luggage claim, meeting the friendly guard who was doing the stamping of passports to the newcomers._

" _Ah there's a strikin' lad if ever I seen one," the man remarked with an easy smile as they both offered their passports._

 _Henry gathered what little energy he had and gave a tired smile to the man, "Thanks sir._

" _And a lad well reared at that! Ya dun well here on this one miss."_

 _Emma felt the warm glow that always accompanied a compliment to her kid. Then with one last cheery, "Night ma'am, young sir," they were finally in the Emerald Isle._

 _Emma could scarcely believe it._

 _The made their way over to the baggage carousel and waited as the bags came into view. Their carry ons and most of their luggage came fairly quickly, but Emma waited impatiently for her last suitcase, the most important one because it had all the case information in it._

 _They waited all the way until the carousel stopped moving, and still her bag did not appear._

 _Panicking slightly, they made their way over to the little luggage office, and the tired woman was able to locate her bag fairly quickly. The bag, that was back in Heathrow. The Heathrow that did not have a flight out to Shannon until noon the next day, which was when they were scheduled to meet their ride to the island._

 _So Emma just gave her phone number and decided that she'd try to look on the bright side. It'd be fine. There was no way anything else could possibly go wrong._

 _She should have known better than to tempt the fates, because when they got out to the parking lot of the airport and to the bus station that her little pass had told her, there was no bus, and no people._

 _Eyes wide, she looked around and spotted a schedule of bus times._

Last bus leaves at 12:15 Shannon-Galway

 _She checked her phone, and saw it was 12:10._

Emma was certain at this point they would probably end up just having to walk to Galway, wherever it was. And just as she felt tears of hopelessness press at her eyes, she saw headlights. She blinked and stood gently guiding Henry to standing as the bus, the beautiful bus, pulled up to their stop and the door opened.

An old man sat in the driver's seat, "Ye lokin ta git ta Galwa?"

It took her a second to translated in her head before she nodded, "Yes please."

He nodded an amiable smile on his face, "Den get ye aboard."

In short order, she and Henry and all their luggage _save one_ were on a bus bound for Galway City. Henry had fallen asleep again almost as soon as the bus started moving. But before Emma could follow her son, the bus driver spoke, "A dousand pologies ta ye and da young lad. Da delay were not intentional, ye see, we'd been havin floods in these here parts, and da road got all washed out. Had ta call n help ter clear it. But ye on ye way now miss, down ta good ol Galway town."

When they arrived, the kind man helped them unload their luggage before he gave a toothy smile and wave, departing the bus depot. Emma sighed, it was almost two _in the morning_. They needed to find a place to sleep, at least for a few hours. Emma pulled out her phone, thinking that she could just search the area for cheap hotels. Except-

NO SERVICE

She stared at her screen with incredulity. And then she realized- no international roaming. So now she needed to find a place with wifi first, before they found a bed.

In a stroke of both luck and irony, their salvation was to be found in a restaurant styled after an American burger joint from the fifties. They had wifi. They had french fries. And they had directions.

Neither she nor Henry bothered to undress as they flopped down on the beds of their hostel room.

The drive from Galway to Doolin was...interesting. Turned out that the buses they used for just regular public transit were actual greyhound buses. And trying to squeeze past another bus going the opposite direction on a road better suited for cows than cars while tracing along the precarious cliffside was …. _Stressful_.

Doolin turned out to be just about as perfect a representation of the quaint Irish town as anyone could ask for. Thatched roofs and split opening doors, cobblestone streets and low stone walls.

Even Emma, who had still not recovered from their 29 hour journey, had to admit that it was pretty cute. Henry seemed to have regained his enthusiasm with a few deep breaths of the salty sea air. But they didn't have time to sightsee, and once Emma had acquired directions to the docks….no the quay, it called the quay.

She puzzled over the old woman's reaction when she had requested directions to get to Inis Oiche. She'd crossed herself as she whispered, "What business have ye dat ya want ta go to da Dark Isle?"

It took several minutes of Emma's insistence before the woman had finally given up directions, but not before she leaned forward and rubbed her thumb across Emma's brow, who was so surprised she didn't have a chance to react before the old woman pulled away and did the same to Henry.

"May ye never see de Beltane fires," she whispered in warning, before she slowly pointed down a road, "And if ye insist on seek ye fate out on the Dark Island, ye passage ca' be found down at yond quay."

She bundled Henry off quickly, throwing the strange woman a look over her shoulder. She was able to catch a glimpse of the old crone looking mournfully after them as she crossed herself again.

"I still don't understand why they don't pronounce it 'kay'…. That's how it's spelled! There is no 'e' in that word, so why on earth do they say 'key'? It's dumb." Emma mumbled her rant as they made it down to the _quay._ Henry just laughed.

"That's just how it is Mom, get used to it."

Ema looked around at the long line of empty slips, with only the last one occupied by an ugly, weather beaten smudgy grey trawler. The thing looked about a decade past needing to be retired. She sighed. They were on time! Where was their ride?

She was startled, then, when a man came up onto the deck of the trawler and shouted, "Ey! You the Swan lass?"

Emma stared with growing horror as Henry echoed her sentiments.

"We aren't supposed to go on.. _that,_ right?"

Emma winced as she slowly led to the boat. A stout man with a grizzly beard, a beany, and a scowl glared her over. Emma felt her chin going up at his perusal, before he just gruffly spat out a "Nice to meet ya. Now get on board," and turned away.

As Emma helped Henry aboard, she happened to glance down at the side of the ship where it was bumping against the wood beneath her. That's when she saw it. The faded letters were peeling away and large portions were missing, but she could still make out the name.

 _The Snow White_

She just shook her head and stepped aboard.

It was a little nerve wracking getting out from Doolin's little bay, but once the trawler hit open water, the ride was actually wonderful.

The skies were clear and the sun shone brightly. At one point, their captain, who she'd christened 'Grumpy' in her head, slowed the vessel and then turned and pointed a little to the right of where they'd departed from.

It was then Emma saw the massive cliff faces that towered over the sea, the surf beating against their bases. It was beautiful.

Grumpy let the two look their fill before he started the engine back up again and they continued on their way. As they drove, he explained that there were four inhabited islands off the coast, and that they varied in size from able to support several thousand, to being able to handle a couple hundred at most.

But the island they were headed to was way farther out to sea than the others, and so the island could be a bit _...isolated…_ from the rest of the world. He said it with relish, as if it were something good and unique about where they were going, but all Emma heard was "no free wifi anywhere."

Apparently Henry heard something similar, because she heard him mutter, "Great now I'll never be able to beat Jake at Words with Friends."

But, even as enjoyable as the ride was, by the time the island finally came into view, Emma would be glad to see the back of the boat. As they got closer, for a moment, a rainbow arched down from the sky and seemed to stop right on the island. Henry gasped in delight and managed to snap a picture before the bow faded away.

"Lucky, that," huffed out Grumpy. "Perhaps inviting you land folk wasn't entirely a terrible idea."

Emma blinked, rather taken aback, but before she could rebut him, Henry called out to her.

"MOM COME LOOK IT'S A SEAL!"

And city dweller to the core, she couldn't help but rush to see the actual wildlife. Sure enough, a large seal was easily keeping pace beside the boat, dipping in and out of the water with ease, and Emma was entranced by the strange beauty of the movement. Then the seal turned over and started to swim on its back for a moment, and she saw that one fin had deep scarring on it.

She studied it for a moment before the seal flipped back over and dipped beneath the water. Henry couldn't help but lean forward to try and keep the creature in his sights. So when the seal shot straight up from the water, blowing out hard from its nose, Henry ended up getting thoroughly sprayed as the seal seemed to give a sort of self satisfied huff.

If Emma hadn't known better, she'd say that the seal was waiting to see how Henry would react, but the next moment her son burst out in peels of laughter, wiping his face. The seal blinked, and Emma could have sworn the expression almost.. _Softened?_ But then Grumpy shouted, "Land ho!" and the creature slipped back into the waves without so much as a splash and vanished into the gloom of the ocean depths.

Emma straightened, taking a look at where they were headed, and was immediately discomforted by the mass of people who all seemed to be waiting on the _quay._ And sure enough, when Grumpy pulled them in, he steered the boat straight into the middle slip, right in the center of the group of people.

"Leroy! Toss us the lines!"

Emma watched as _Leroy_ did just that, and the boat was safely moored. Emma sucked in a breath as she hopped out, not noticing that Henry had bent to retie his shoe. So she had no moral support when a man with her hair and a woman with her eyes separated from the watching bystanders, slowly coming forward.

The woman was covering her mouth with her hand while the man draped his arm supportively over her shoulder.

The woman managed to drop her hand away from her mouth to whisper, "Emma?"

Emma gave an awkward wave.

Then the woman's brows pulled down, looking curiously over her shoulder back towards the boat.

"Leroy had said there were two of you coming. Where is your husband?"

The moment the question left her lips, Henry popped up and vaulted over the side of the boat to stand by Emma's side, bouncing on his toes with a beaming smile.

"Hi I'm Henry. I'm your grandson."


End file.
